Is Mr Goodwin going to Westminster?

Matthew Goodwin has been on quite the journey in the last few years, from an academic who wrote articles for the Guardian analysing the far right to an activist who has embraced it wholesale, espousing increasingly nativist views.

Now rumours have emerged that Goodwin will take the natural next step – seeking to become a Reform MP at the next general election.

After their vetting procedures collapsed like a clown’s car at the last election – despite Nigel Farage boasting of how rigorous it was, they still managed to field candidates who praised Putin, questioned the King’s loyalty to Britain and spoke of Hitler’s “brilliant” ability to inspire action – Reform are now thought to be well ahead in terms of finding folk for an election which could come in 2028.

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Earlier this month, Goodwin was made the honorary president of the new Students4Reform organisation, a body charged with promoting Faragist views on campuses across the UK. The appointment came despite Goodwin having just argued that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British and, possibly more pertinently, being 43 years old.

Now the word is that Goodwin is sniffing around potential seats where Reform has a chance of winning. Where that is will be interesting – it is unlikely to be in London, which he visited in the summer and had a torrid old time, being charged £8 for a pint, was asked for money by homeless people three times, “had dinner in a neighbourhood where the average rent is £3,663 per month” and bought a tin of instant coffee with a security tag on it.

But he is equally unlikely to fancy his hometown seat of St Albans in Hertfordshire, where Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper took 56.6% of the vote last year and which opted for Remain by 62.7% in the Brexit referendum. Where might Matthew pitch up?